poof

English

Alternative forms

• pouf

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic. See also puff.

Pronunciation

• enPR: po͝of, IPA^(key): /pʊf/
• (US)
  • IPA^(key): /puːf/, [puːɸ]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊf, -uːf
• Homophones: pouf, pouffe (with certain dialects and/or accents)

Interjection

poof

1. Onomatopoeia indicating a small explosion with a cloud of smoke; as caused by a deflating object, or a magical disappearance.

   Poof, he was gone.

   • 1969, Beard & Kennedy, Bored of the Rings, page 87:

     Even now, in the spring, the river softly cries, 'Menthol, Menthol, you are one wazoo. One day I'm the elf next door and the poof I'm a river.'

   • 1995, Christopher McQuarrie, The Usual Suspects, spoken by Verbal (Kevin Spacey):

     The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone.

Derived terms

• foofy
• poofy

Translations

deflating object or a magical disappearance

• Finnish: puff (fi)
• French: pouf (fr)
• German: puff (de)

• Polish: puf (pl)
• Portuguese: puf
• Spanish: puf (es)
• Swedish: poff

Verb

poof (third-person singular simple present poofs, present participle poofing, simple past and past participle poofed)

1. To vanish or disappear.
   • 2019, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 22:

     He's a figment of your subconscious Eric, not mine, so I tapped into Ultimate Reality and poofed him out.

   He poofed into thin air.

2. (intransitive) To break wind; to fart.

Translations

to vanish

• French: s'évanouir (fr), s'évaporer (fr), disparaître (fr)

• Polish: znikać (pl)

to fart

• Finnish: pierrä (fi)
• French: péter (fr), prouter (fr)

• Swedish: fisa (sv), fjärta (sv), prutta (sv)

Noun

poof (plural poofs)

1. The product of flatulence, or the sound of breaking wind.

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

poof (plural poofs or (less common) pooves)

1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, derogatory, colloquial) A male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:male homosexual

   • 2015, Irvine Welsh, A Decent Ride, Random House (→ISBN), page 21:

     He recalls how everybody got called a ‘poof’ at Forrester High School in the seventies. Back then, only ‘wanker’ possibly rivalled it as the most common term of abuse. But The Poof was the Poof.

Derived terms

• poofter

Translations

A male homosexual.

• Bulgarian: педераст (bg) m (pederast)
• Catalan: marieta (ca) m, marica (ca) m, maricó (ca) m
• Finnish: hintti (fi)
• French: pédale (fr) f, tante (fr) f, tapette (fr) f
• Italian: finocchio (it) m, checca (it) f
• Norwegian: skrulle m or f, fjolle m or f

• Polish: pedał (pl) m, pedzio (pl) m
• Portuguese: bicha (pt)
• Russian: голубо́й (ru) (golubój)
• Swedish: fjolla (sv) c

The product of flatulence.

• Danish: prut (da)
• Finnish: pieru (fi) sg
• French: pet (fr) m, prout (fr) m

• Swedish: fis (sv) c, fjärt (sv) c, prutt (sv) c